Legislative staff members often fail to accurately gauge the political opinions of their constituents. This study finds that Congressional senior staffers systematically misperceive public sentiment, particularly underestimating liberal/Democratic viewpoints.
📊 METHODOLOGY: Original survey combined with two survey experiments analyzing factors influencing staff perceptions.
🔍 KEY FINDINGS:
• Staff members who rely heavily on conservative/business interest groups display significantly skewed opinions assessments 📈
• Egocentric biases shape staffer perspectives 🔍
• The gap between staff perception and actual constituent views varies by party affiliation and gender demographics • Reliability of information provided to staffers differs substantially based on source bias
💡 IMPLICATIONS:
These misperceptions help explain Congress's frequent lack of responsiveness to ordinary citizens. Scholars should now seriously consider legislative aides as pivotal actors in the US policymaking process.
| Legislative Staff and Representation in Congress was authored by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Matto Mildenberger and Leah Stokes. It was published by Cambridge in APSR in 2018. |
